The Girl With the Purple Streaks
by the-Mad-Majesty-of-Muchness
Summary: Seventeen years ago, Nathan Wallace went to jail for killing his wife, and his newborn daughter was taken in by Rotti Largo. Now, Shilo is a young woman, and the day she meets the Graverobber is the day her life changes forever.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So this idea has been rattling around in my head for QUITE a long time now, and I decided it's finally time to share it. I'm cross-posting on AO3, so...yeah. Hope you enjoy, and please remember to review!**

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The first time he saw the girl with the purple hair streaks, the Graverobber didn't think much of it. She was just some girl, and not even that much to look at compared to most, some small, pale, scrawny little thing with black hair streaked with purple and dressed mostly in black with a cameo on a chain around her neck, a bag on her shoulder, and a sandwich in her hands that she was eating as she walked down the street and talked to someone on her wristcom. Probably no older than her mid-teens, if he had to guess.

The second time he saw her was with Amber.

Not when she came to him for a hit, though, because this was when he was in his regular clothes and without his makeup, with his hair pulled into a tight little knot at the base of his skull and hidden beneath a classic style beanie. He called it his "civilian attire," or "street-clothes," because by losing the makeup, keeping his distinctive hair out of sight, and wearing something besides what he was known for, he was able to freely walk the streets and do as he pleased. Someone might recognize his voice, true, but he tended not to associate with the type of people he usually did while he was in Civilian Mode, and he did that for the exact reason of keeping his chances of vocal recognition to a minimum. So far, it was a plan that worked, thank you very much.

So no, the second time he saw the girl with the purple hair streaks, there was no more interaction than there had been the first time he'd seen her. However, he did manage to learn her name and who she was that time, thanks to the his friend Chris being with him. He'd nudged the other man's shoulder, jerked his chin in the direction of Amber and the other girl, and asked, "Hey, you know who that tiny little thing with Queen Bitch over there is?" Chris, upon turning and seeing who Graverobber was talking about, looked at him in surprise.

"You mean you don't?" he asked, and the dealer shook his head, brow furrowed.

"Should I?"

"That's Shilo, Rotti's youngest. Favorite, too, from what I hear. It's why she's not really ever in the public eye. Based on my understanding, Rotti likes to keep her kind of on the down-low, out of publicity stunts and all that, probably because of the favoritism, or something related to it, I dunno. She's the only one that doesn't embarrass him, which probably explains why she's the favorite."

Graverobber studied the girl a bit more carefully. She was pretty, he'd give her that. At least from what he could see, and based on what he'd seen last time. She was kind of small for what he was guessing her age to be, which was maybe sixteen years old, give or take, and quite pale. He couldn't help but notice, though, how strange it was that she looked nothing like a Largo. Surgery couldn't be why, because if there was one thing Graverobber knew how to recognize from any distance, it was someone who'd been under the knife, and he saw none of the signs to indicate that on this girl. Besides, Chris had just said plain as day that this was the only kid who didn't embarrass the big man, so if that didn't confirm it, nothing did.

The third time he saw her was the first time he ever spoke to her, and it was kind of strange, to say the least.

He was "commuting" on one of the clean up trucks and harvesting from the bodies being transported by it like he always did when hitching a ride on one when there was suddenly a metallic thunk to his right, and when he looked up, there she was, just opposite him, riding along like a garbageman would and looking over her shoulder, gripping the support bar so tightly that her knuckles were nearly white. She was wearing a pleated leather skirt and fishnet tights, black Victorian style boots that laced up in the front, and a strapless black bustier underneath a white lace spaghetti strap, the whole ensemble topped off by the same cameo necklace he'd seen her wearing the last two times, along with the same bag on her shoulder. Her black-and-purple hair was flaring out behind her in the wind, strands of it whipping around into and then back out of her face from time to time.

Then, suddenly, she was looking at him. Staring, more like, with wide eyes that were a darker shade of brown than he could ever remember seeing before, even more than he had always imagined Blind Mag's natural eyes had been when she'd had them.

 _And what beautiful eyes they are,_ he thought.

"I know you," she said just as suddenly as she'd turned to face him. "You're that guy on all the posters, the one who sells Amber her Zydrate."  
"They call me the Graverobber, among other things," he replied. "You, my dear, may have your pick of names. Graverobber, G-Man, King of the Glow. Whatever floats your goat, as a friend of mine would say. And I know you, as well. You're Amber's baby sister Shilo. Daddy's favorite, as I understand it. I hear you're good at staying out of trouble, contrary to your siblings' example. How's that?"

"I spend most of my time either collecting bugs or hanging out with Blind Mag, that's how," she said. "And they're not my siblings, for the record. Not really, anyway."  
"Aaah," he said as understanding washed over him. "Half-siblings, I assume?"

Much to his surprise, she shook her head in response. "I'm adopted," she said. Graverobber frowned. He had always imagined Rotti Largo to be many things, but "charitable to orphans" was most definitely not on that list. "I know, I know," Shilo said, almost as if she was reading his mind. "Rotti Largo doesn't seem the type to adopt simply for the sake of it or out of good will, but that's not what the deal is."

"Then what, pray tell, is the deal?"  
"I...I'm not sure if I should say. I mean..."  
"No, no, I understand, we just met, all that. I get it. Why don't you tell me 'bout them bugs of yours, instead?"  
"Pff." She shook her head slightly. "Yeah, like you'd actually be interested in that."

"Don't meet many who are, I take it, huh?"  
"You could say that. So why should you be different?"

"The cockroach is a member of the order known as _Blattaria,_ or _Blattodea,_ and is one of the four species of _Blattaria_ that are considered to be pests. The most well-known kinds are the American cockroach, _Periplaneta americana,_ which is about thirty millimeters long on average, the German cockroach, _Blatella germanica,_ averaging at about fifteen millimeters in length, the Asian cockroach, _Blatella asahinai,_ which measures the same as the German, and finally, the Oriental cockroach, _Blatta orientalis,_ which averages up to about twenty-five millimeters long, and the Tropical ones are often much bigger. Let's see, what else? Our name for the little guys actually comes from the Spanish word, _cucaracha,_ which ended up evolving into the word we have for it in America, cockroach. The way we ended up taking their word for it and evolving it was that the word _cucaracha,_ which means 'streak bug,' was originally used for the wood louse, or sow bug, and was later used for the palmetto bug, or flying cockroach, and it was this particular Mexican usage that we stole and began using to refer to the regular, non-flying roaches."

"Okay, if you know so much about roaches, then how do they survi—"  
"They're not dependent on the mouth and windpipe to breath like most living things are because the spiracles that their tracheae attach to don't include the head. Also, there's no such thing as an albino roach, people who claim there are were just lucky enough to see a nymph and not realize that's what it was."

"I'm sorry? I don't...think I know about this, I've never heard of an albino roach."  
"Well, you know how when the nymphs hatch, they're white for a few hours or so until their bodies harden and darken? There have been plenty of claims throughout history of albino roaches, but it's not true, there's no such thing. Those people were just lucky enough to see a nymph in those few hours right after it had hatched."

They stared at each other for several moments.

"How do you know so much about cockroaches?" she asked finally.  
He shrugged, not even looking at what he was doing as he smacked the needle of his extractor up some poor dead bastard's nostril. "Been fascinated by 'em ever since I can remember," he said, "so I've crammed my head full of this stuff starting at...I wanna say I was like seven at the time?"

"You're not like Amber says, you know that?"  
"And how, may I ask, does Amber say I am?"  
"She says you're rude and selfish and all sorts of other shit like that."  
"Yeah, well, I'm not exactly fond of her, either, so I guess that makes us even."  
"Believe me, I'm not her biggest fan myself."

"You know what, let's talk about something other than Queen Bitch, shall we?"

Shilo gave a shrug. "Like what?" she asked.

"Like...how old are you? You barely look sixteen."  
"I'm seventeen, thank you very much. Eighteen next week."

"Ha!" he exclaimed, throwing his head back. "You're a fun-sizer, that's so great!"  
"I'm a...a what?" Shilo asked, her expression one of absolute bewilderment.

"A fun-sizer," he repeated. "'T'ain't no such thing as short, kid, only fun-sized."

Shilo rolled her eyes. "What's your name?" she asked.

"I'm sorry?"  
"Your name. What is it?"  
"You know my name, it's Graverobber."  
"No, that's your alias. I mean your real name."

"Oh, kid, you think I go around announcing that to just anyone? No sirree, GeneCops'd be all over my ass in two seconds flat if I did that. No, no, no, sweetheart, you have to earn the right to that information. Ask me again once you've earned my trust somehow."

"Okay, then can I ask you something else?"  
"Ask me whatever you want, I can't guarantee you'll get a straight answer, though."

She rolled her eyes again, then thought about what she could ask that he would actually answer.

"Opinions on Blind Mag?" she said.

He let out a low whistle and shook his head. "Damn shame about that," he said.

Shilo frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?" she asked.

He looked up at her, blinking his blue eyes.

"You mean you don't know? How is that possible when Rotti is your dad? Unless...Oh, shit, he's sheltering you, isn't he?"

"Sheltering me?" she echoed. "From what, what do I need sheltering from?"  
"Kid, I ain't sure it's my place to tell you this, Amber'd probably murder me if she found out. Or worse, she'd send Luigi after me."

"I can handle my dumbass siblings, okay, now tell me what the hell is going on."

Graverobber pressed his lips into a thin line, obviously still on the fence about the whole thing. He sat there for several moments just thinking it over, then, finally, he let out a heavy sigh.

"Oh...fine, you win," he said. "But don't tell anyone where you got this information from, understand?"

"Yeah, okay, I promise," she replied.

He let out another sigh and shook his head.

"It's Mag's contract," he said. "It's got some, shall we say, fine print. And when I say 'fine print,' I mean finer than fine. Those oh-so-fabulous eyes of hers came with quite a heavy price. Her contract says that if she up and splits, those eyes are basically forfeit, and if Rotti so chooses, a Repo's gonna be goin' after Mag's ass and she'll pay dearly for that surgery."

"Wait...so you're saying that—"

"By quitting her job as the spokeswoman of GeneCo, she's giving up all right to those eyes and basically saying, 'Okay, Rotti, I'm ready to die, do your worst!' And I can tell ya right now, kid, it ain't gonna be pretty when that happens. Never is where a Repo's involved."

Shilo stared at him for several moments, her dark eyes wide.

"No," she said finally, "no, you're...you're making this up, it can't be true. Rotti would never..."

She trailed off, studying the gravely serious look on his face, and suddenly, it felt as if her heart was contracting in on itself.

"You know what?" she choked out. "Screw you. Screw you and your made up bullshit, you rotten son of a bitch. Amber was right about you, you're...You're horrible, is what you are, you're full of lies and—"

She shook her head as hot, angry tears began to build up in her eyes. Before they could start falling, she let go of the support bar and dropped off of the truck, and he watched as her figure got smaller and smaller as the truck sped away.

"Well then," he said to the empty air, "that was a refreshing change from the usual routine. Back to business, then."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I got only one thing to say about this chapter: ROTTI'S I-IN TROUBLE! *giggles like a schoolgirl***

 **Oh, and also, I don't own anything, lol.**

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The elevator doors opened, and Shilo stormed into Rotti's office.

"Dad!" she exclaimed.

He looked up and smiled at her.

"Shilo, darling," he said, "how wonderful to see you. Is there anything I can do for you?"  
"Yeah, actually, there is," Shilo replied, crossing her arms as she came to a stop in front of his desk.

That was when he noticed the expression on her face, and his smile vanished.

"You look upset," he said. "Is something wrong?"  
"You could say that, yeah."

"Tell me what it is, and I'll do my best to fix it."  
"Is it true that—that a Repo is going to take Mag's eyes after she quits?"

Rotti froze. How the hell had she found out about that? He had always been so careful to keep it a secret from her, especially since she had such a close relationship with Mag! He would personally see to the punishment of whoever had spilled this information to her, that was a guarantee.

"Shilo," he said, "where in the world did you hear such a thing?"  
"It doesn't matter where I heard it from. I just want to know if it's true."

"No, darling, of course not."

She seemed to relax somewhat. "Good," she said quietly. "I knew he had to be lying, I knew you would never do something like that."

"Who had to be lying? Shilo, who was it that told you such blatant nonsense?"  
"No one, Dad. Just some guy I met while I was out today, that's all. It's nothing."

"Good. Then let's not speak of it anymore, yes?"

Shilo allowed herself a small grin.

"Okay," she said. "So, listen, I was wondering—"

Before she could finish, the elevator doors opened again, and Amber came stomping in, hands on her hips. Her appearance had changed since Shilo had seen her that morning. Instead of a long blonde ponytail and blue eyes, she now had wavy brown hair and violet eyes, and her nose was a little more up-turned than it had been before.

"Daddy, I want you to do something about Pavi!" she exclaimed.  
"Not now, Amber, can't you see I'm talking to your sister?" Rotti replied.

"Oh, you give her enough attention as it is, she can wait a little while!"

"Amber!"

"I'm serious, Daddy! He's way out of line, he's gone too far this time!"

"Whatever she's said, Papà, I swear, it's-a not true!" Pavi shouted as he and Luigi came into the room.  
"They're crazy, Dad, both of 'em!" Luigi said. "Don't listen to either one, I'll tell ya what really happened!"

"Silence, all of you!" Rotti commanded.

There was a long pause.

"Shilo," Rotti said, "why don't you go spend some time with Mag? We'll talk more later. I need to deal with your upstart siblings right now."

Shilo bit her lower lip, then gave a nod, turned, and headed towards the elevator.

The doors hadn't even shut all the way before the shouting started.

Shilo sighed heavily as she leaned against the back wall of the elevator. Sometimes she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like for her if Rotti had never adopted her. She kind of knew the basics of what the deal was with her birth parents, but she'd always had the feeling that there was more to the story that nobody had ever told her, though she hadn't the faintest idea what it might be.

According to Rotti, Shilo's mother had been engaged to him before meeting Shilo's father. Her mother, Marni, had then broken off her engagement to Rotti and married Shilo's father, Nathan. Marni had gotten sick while she was pregnant with Shilo, and Nathan, being a doctor, had tried to cure her, but ended up poisoning her, instead, and had to perform an emergency C-section to deliver Shilo. Marni had lost a lot of blood in the process and never woke up. When Rotti found out what had happened, he'd appeared on Nathan's doorstep with some GeneCops and arrested him for killing Marni, then, upon realizing that Nathan and Marni's child had survived the horrific birth process, had decided that, for Marni's sake, he would adopt the child as his own.

And that was how Shilo had joined the Largo family.  
Or at least, that was the story she'd always been told.

Blind Mag had always sort of doted on Shilo because, apparently, she'd been best friends with Marni. Shilo and Mag had ended up developing a very strong, if somewhat odd, friendship. As for Shilo's relationship with her adoptive siblings, she had never been very fond of either of her brothers. Her relationship with Amber, though, was better, if still rather rocky. She sometimes followed Amber around the city when she had nothing better to do, and Amber didn't seem to mind all that much, just so long as Shilo didn't make a nuisance of herself, which was pretty much never. The rest of the seventeen-year-old's time was basically spent wandering around the city and collecting bugs.

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. Shilo stepped out of it and left the building, then began heading down the street towards Mag's house. It was only a few blocks from GeneCo Tower, and when she got there, she opened the gate and went up the front walk, pulling out her keychain and using the key that Mag had given her to get in the front door.

"Mag?" she called. "Hello? You here? It's Shilo."

"In here, dear," came the reply.

Shilo followed the sound of Mag's voice into the living room and found the soprano standing in front of the window staring outside. When she heard Shilo's footsteps, however, Mag turned and smiled at the teenager, and Shilo automatically returned it.

"How are you today?" Mag asked.  
"Pretty good. How about you?" Shilo replied.

"A bit sad, to tell the truth. I've been thinking about your mother a lot today."  
"Why? Is there some anniversary or something coming up that I don't know about?"

"No, I just...can't help it sometimes. When you have someone who means what Marni did to me, it...it's very difficult to lose them, even after so many years. And you look so much like her, you know."

"So you've told me."

"I remember when she asked me to be your godmother. It was such a shock, but I was also absolutely delighted. I told her I'd be honored."

"Then why did you say no?"

Mag frowned and tilted her head slightly to the side.

"I didn't," she replied. "I said yes."

Shilo blinked.

"But...Wait, so you mean all this time, my godmother has been my best friend, and nobody's ever thought to tell me that?"

"I would have told you myself, but I honestly thought you knew."  
Shilo shook her head. "No," she said, "I didn't. Nobody ever told me I had a godmother."

"Oh, Shilo...Honey, I'm so sorry. This is my fault, I shouldn't have just assumed, I ought to have gone ahead and told you to be sure."

Shilo was silent as she absorbed this new information, then looked up and met Mag's eyes.

"Mag," she said, "if I ask you a question, will you answer me truthfully?"  
"Of course, dear. You can always ask me anything, you know that. What is it?"

"It's about your contract."

Mag paled a bit.

"Alright," she said, "go on."  
"Is it true that a Repo is going to take your eyes after you leave the company?"

All the color drained from Mag's face, and she drew in a ragged breath.

"I...Y-Yes," she said quietly, "it is."

Shilo's eyes doubled in size.

"What?!" she cried. "You mean Dad lied to me?! Wha—But I don't understand! Why?! Why would he do that to you, after everything you've done, all these years you've worked for him! I thought your surgery was supposed to be a gift!"

"It was," Mag said, "but there were terms attached. Shilo, honey, where did you hear about this? Did you read about it in a tabloid or something? You know you shouldn't be buying those, they're full of almost nothing but lies and nonsense."

"No," Shilo replied, "not from a tabloid. From—From a guy I met today."

"What guy?" Mag asked.

"I don't know. He wouldn't tell me his real name. It's the guy on those wanted posters, the graverobber that Amber gets her Zydrate from."  
"What? Shilo, what were you doing in those parts of the city? You know those types of people are dangerous, what were you thinking, you could have been seriously hurt!"

"He was riding on the back of a clean up truck that I jumped onto, and we just started talking, okay, I wasn't in _those_ parts of the city at all, it was just by chance. But...I thought...Dammit, he was right, Dad _is_ sheltering me, isn't he? Mag, what am I gonna do? I can't go through life being lied to like this, I...I just can't. What else haven't I been told? What else has everyone been keeping from me? What...What's the truth about my parents?"

"...What do you mean?" Mag asked uncertainly.  
"I mean...I've always felt like there was more to the story than I was being told, but...I don't know, I just...What's the truth?"

Mag stood there staring at her goddaughter with wide eyes.

"Please, Mag," Shilo said, "I need to know the truth. Don't lie to me anymore. If you love me, you won't keep lying to me."

Mag sighed heavily, her shoulders falling.

"Alright," she said, "come sit down and I'll tell you everything."

"Thank you," Shilo breathed.

She followed Mag over to the couch, and the two of them sat down together. Mag reached over and gently took Shilo's hands in hers.

"Most of what Rotti told you is true," Mag said. "Marni really was engaged to him, and she did break things off to marry Nathan. She got sick while she was pregnant with you, and Nate tried to cure her. Something went wrong, though, and she started coughing up blood, so he had to perform an emergency C-section to save you, and Marni never woke up. It wasn't a few _days_ before Rotti found out, though. He knew, Shilo. I don't know how, but he knew right away, and he was there almost immediately with the GeneCops. He made Nate an offer—become a Repo-man, or go to jail for killing Marni. Nathan, bless his heart, was absolutely appalled at the very thought of being a Repo, so he turned Rotti down, and next thing anybody knew, the poor man was behind bars, and...Lord, I don't know what it was that compelled him to do this...maybe it was because you're Marni's daughter, but...Rotti decided to adopt you. And he forbade me from ever telling you about any of it. He threatened to—Well, that part's not important. What's important is that I shouldn't have lied to you for so long, sweetheart, and I'm so, so sorry. I should have told you sooner."

Shilo sat there silently absorbing what Mag had just told her.

"Is he..."

She trailed off and swallowed to give her dry mouth some moisture.

"Is he still there?" she asked in a small voice.

"Is who still where?"  
"My dad. Is he still in jail?"

"As far as I'm aware, yes. I think it's for life."

Shilo closed her eyes.

"Oh...God..." she murmured.

Mag placed a gentle hand on Shilo's knee, prompting the latter to look up.

"Shilo, sweetheart," Mag said, "whatever happens, I'm here for you, alright? You don't have to go through this alone."

"Apparently I do," Shilo replied somewhat bitterly. "Because it's never occured to you to tell me any of this before now. Never once has it crossed your mind that maybe, just _maybe_ I would want to know about all of this. God, Mag! I've been lied to my entire life by everyone I thought I could trust! Do you have any idea what I'm going through right now, finding all this out for the first time? And to think that I only started asking because of a fucking _graverobber!_ Of all the reasons, of all the people, it was Amber's drug dealer that triggered this!"

"Shilo—"

"Please don't, Mag. I...I have to go home, okay? I need to be alone with my bugs for a while."

Without giving Mag a chance to respond, Shilo picked up her bag and hurried out of the room. She left Mag's house and began heading down the street towards the Largo mansion, but stopped before she was even a quarter of a way there. An idea had come into her head suddenly, but she wasn't sure if she should act on it. She stood there on the sidewalk debating with herself for what felt like ages before finally making up her mind. She kept on her way and went home, but instead of going up to her room, she went into Rotti's private study.

Setting her bag down by the door to the room, Shilo looked around.

"Okay," she said to herself, "let's see. If I were Dad, and I was going to keep this sort of thing, where would I put it?"

After a moment's consideration, she went around behind the large mahogany desk and opened one of the drawers, taking out a set of keys, which she knew were the keys to the filing cabinet. She opened the filing cabinet drawer that contained the things filed under letter W and went thumbing through what was in there until she found a file labeled 'Wallace.'

She took it out and opened it, only to find that the very first thing inside was a set of black-and-white mugshots. She turned the photos so that she was looking at them right-side up instead of sideways. One thing in particular jumped out at her, and that was the name at the top of the plaquard that the man in the photos was holding:

WALLACE, NATHAN

She looked from the plaquard to the man's face. He looked utterly dejected, as if he was about to burst into tears.

 _So this is my real dad,_ she thought.

She couldn't bear to look at him that way, so she set the photos down on Rotti's desk and moved on to the next item in the file. It was a sheet of information about Nathan's arrest and what exactly he'd been charged with, along with the length of his sentence and the name of the jail where he'd been taken. She looked through some of the other things in the file, finding things about both her birth parents—photos, a copy of their marriage lisence, an invitation to their wedding, and so on and so forth.

Finally, Shilo put everything back in the file, closed the drawer on the filing cabinet and put the keys back where she'd found them, then picked up her bag and put the entire file in it before leaving the room. She was headed towards the front door when she heard a key turning in the lock and froze. Hardly even thinking about it, she turned and fled upstairs to her room, throwing her bag down and unlacing her boots so she could take them off before grabbing one of her many books about bugs and pitching herself onto the bed, opening the book to a random page. A moment later, there was a knock at her bedroom door.

"Who is it?" she called.  
"Open up, brat!" Amber's voice replied.

Shilo rolled her eyes.

"It's unlocked, Amber," she said.

The door swung open to reveal Amber standing there with her arms crossed.

"Look," the older girl said, "Daddy was worried that you were still upset about some kind of shit that you were apparently carrying on about earlier, and he made it my job to check on you, so are you okay, or what?"

"I'm fine," Shilo replied nonchalantly. "Why wouldn't I be? Everything got cleared up. It was just a misunderstanding, that's all."

"Okay, good. Great."

There was a pause, and Amber looked around the room.

"Jesus Christ," she said, "what is it with you and all these creepy-ass bugs?"  
"I don't think they're that creepy," Shilo said. "I think they're really cool."

"The pretty ones, like the butterflies, okay, I guess I kind of get that. But the rest of them are just..."

She trailed off into a shudder.

"All bugs are beautiful if you know how to look at them the right way," Shilo said matter-of-factly. "And they can do so many neat things, too. Oh, by the way, I met your drug dealer earlier. Real charmer ya got there, sis."

Amber narrowed her eyes in curiosity and tilted her head to the side.

"You met Graverobber, seriously?" she asked. "What were you doing near his turf?"  
"I wasn't. I was hitching a ride on the back of a clean-up truck that he also happened to be on."

"Didn't I tell you he was a rotten mo'fo?"  
"He's definitely something, that's for sure."

There was a pause.

"Listen, Amber," Shilo said, "I've had a long day, and I'm tired, I wanna go to bed early, so if you don't mind..."

"Dad won't be happy if you go to bed without at least eating some dinner first, you know that."  
"I already had some. Mag had some leftovers that we heated up and ate together while I was over there."

"Oh. Okay. Well, then...I'll be sure to tell him and the boys not to come in here and wake you up or whatever when they get home."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."  
"Yeah, no problem. Okay. Goodnight, then."

"Goodnight."

Amber left, closing the door behind herself. As soon as she could no longer hear the older girl's footsteps out in the hallway, Shilo got up and put her bug book away, then slipped out of her skirt, replacing it with a pair of black-and-purple acid wash denim shorts. She grabbed a hoodie and put it on, zipping it up and pulling her hair into a messy knot before grabbing a pair of combat boots with a heel and putting them on, her slender fingers working swiftly and deftly to lace them up. She then picked up her bag from where it had landed and slipped the strap over her head so that she was wearing it across her body. After raising the hood on her jacket, Shilo turned out the lights in her bedroom and opened the French doors that led out onto the small balcony attached to her room. She then closed the doors and began making her way down the trellis that was on the wall next to the balcony.

Shilo was on a mission, and she wouldn't rest until she'd completed her goals.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Anyone who has read my first Repo! fic, "Scattered Wrecks," is going to recognize the alias that Shilo uses in this chapter, lol. And...uh...that's about it, enjoy and remember to review!**

 **I DISCLAIM!**

* * *

Shilo stood staring at the building in front of her. Sanitarium Island Penitentiary. She'd passed it a few times before without ever giving it a second thought, but now she knew the truth. If Rotti ever found out that she'd come here, she knew that that would be the end of everything. She was starting to second guess herself about this decision, but then she told herself that no, she'd already come too far to consider backing out. And besides, even if she did turn around and go home, nothing would ever be the same for her now. She could never go back to being in blissful ignorance. So what would even be the point of leaving now that she was here?

She took a deep breath and went inside.

The officer at the front desk looked up when Shilo stepped through the doors.

"Yes, may I help you?" he asked.  
"I'm here to see someone," she replied.

"And who would that be?"  
"Nathan Wallace."

"Is he expecting you?"  
"No, I wanted to surprise him."

"And who are you?"  
"A relative."

"I'm going to need you to be more specific than that, miss."

Oh boy. Time to see if her improvisational skills were up to par.

"My name is Crystal Abbott. He's my uncle."

The officer raised an eyebrow, then pushed a button, and there was a buzzing sound.

"Can I get someone up to the front desk, please?" he said. "We have a visitor that needs to be escorted back."

 _"Copy that, someone is on their way now,"_ came the reply.

He released the button, and a few moments later, a door opened to reveal another officer.

"Can you take Miss Abbott here to see Nathan Wallace?" the man at the desk asked.

The second officer gave a nod, then looked expectantly at Shilo, who followed him through the door. They went through a series of hallways without so much as a single word being spoken between them until finally, they reached a door.

"He'll be brought in momentarily," the officer said. "When you're ready to leave, just push the button on the wall to the right of the door."

"Okay, got it. Thank you," Shilo replied.

The officer nodded, then opened the door for her. She stepped inside, and it closed. She looked around. It was a mostly empty room with another door opposite the one she'd entered through, furnished only with a table that had one chair on each side of it, and it was lit with flourescents. She set her bag down beside one of the chairs, then sat down and waited, picking absentmindedly at a scab she'd found.

After a few moments of this, she heard the second door open and looked up. Being led into the room wearing handcuffs and prison clothes was a man with glasses and gray hair. The GeneCop with him brought him over to the table and sat him down in the empty chair, then turned and left without a word.

The silence was louder than anything Shilo had ever heard in her life.

The man was frowning at her curiously.

"I don't have any brothers or sisters," he said, "so I can't have any nieces or nephews. Who are you?"  
"I don't know," Shilo said, and lowered her hood, looking him directly in the eyes. "You tell me. Who do I look like to you?"

As soon as he'd been able to see her clearly, a stricken expression had come onto his face.

"Marni..." he breathed.

"I think," she said, "that you know exactly who I am. Just like I know exactly who you are."

There was a pause, during which he stared at her forlornly.

"Shilo," he whispered. "You're Shilo, you're my daughter, aren't you? My little girl..."

"...Hi, Dad."

"Oh...God...Look at you, you're all grown up. Look at what a beautiful young woman you've become. But what are you doing here, how did you—"  
"How I found out is kind of a long story, and it doesn't matter, anyway. Let's just say that...Nevermind. And I'm here because...because I had to meet you."

Nathan smiled sadly. "Well, whatever your reasons, I'm glad you're here," he said. "I've always wondered about you. How you turned out, what you grew up to look like...Just like your mother, apparently."

"That's what Rotti and Mag have always told me, too."

"You're what, seventeen now? Eighteen?"  
"Eighteen next week, yeah."

"God, I've missed everything...I wish I could've been there and seen you grow up. I'm sorry, Shilo, I'm so sorry."

"No, please, Dad, don't do that."

"What?"

"Apologize like that. It's not your fault. I've already been aplogized to enough as it is. Mag absolutely would not stop doing it earlier."

"Mag? You mean Rotti's actually let you have contact with her? I always thought he would have kept you away from each other so she wouldn't tell you anything he didn't want you to know."

"Yeah, she's basically my best friend. I just didn't know until earlier tonight that she's also my godmother. She never told me because she thought I already knew."

Nathan shook his head.

"God...I—I can't help but feel responsible. None of this would have happened in the first place if I hadn't killed your mother. If that hadn't happened, Rotti never would've had me arrested, and you would've had a much more normal life. I know you don't want me to say it, but I'm sorry, Shilo. I'm so, so, _so_ sorry. You may not think it's my fault, but I do. The entire thing is all because of me, it's...I failed. I should have saved her, I should have double checked to make sure before I gave her that medicine. I'm such a fool, I—"

"Dammit, Dad, will you stop? Don't berate yourself like that, it...I didn't come here to listen to that. I came here because I want us to know each other. I thought you would want the same thing."

"...I do want that. It's the only thing I've ever wanted since coming here."  
"Then let's get to know each other while we have the chance, okay?"

He nodded. "Yes," he said, "yes, you're right. Okay. Tell me something about yourself, then. What do you like to do for fun?"

Shilo flashed a small grin. "I like bugs," she said. "I'm fascinated by them, I collect them. I have all kinds of different species. Amber thinks they're gross and creepy, but I think they're all beautiful in their own unique way. One of my favorites is my _Achaearanea lunata._ The crescent comb-footed spider. It's in the _Lactrodectus_ family, which is the same family as black widows. God, I wish I could show you my collection, they're all so beautiful. And...I'm...Mag calls it 'culturally educated.' It basically just means that I'm familiar with a bunch of movies and books and TV shows and music and stuff like that from before the NOS epidemics. My favorite movie director is a guy named Tim Burton. Mag and I also spend a lot of time looking out my bedroom window together, naming stars and constellations and things like that. I can see the world from my window, it's amazing."

"It sounds like it. What about...I mean...Do you...have a boyfriend or...?"

Shilo laughed lightly and gave a subtle roll of her eyes.

"No," she said, "not unless celebrities and fictional characters count. And most of the celebrities are dead, to boot. No, I, um...I've never really had much interest in boys. All the celebrities and characters have kind of ruined the real thing for me, so...yeah. Amber's tried to set me up a few times, but it's never worked out. She always claims she's doing it out of what she calls 'sisterly obligation,' but I dunno, it's whatever, I guess."

"What is it like for you growing up with Rotti's children?" Nathan asked.

"Well...Pavi and Luigi, I've never really gotten along very well with. I mean, I've tried, but I just can't stand them. It's easier with Amber, though. I don't know if that's because we're both girls, or because she's always fed up with the boys like I am, or what, but we get along...not great, but pretty okay. Better than either of us gets along with the boys, that's for sure. My relationship with her is still pretty rocky by most peoples' standards, but we're alright. She lets me follow her around the city when I have nothing better to do, just as long as she's not going to get Zydrate. I think she sees me as a sister more than the boys do, because she tends to kind of look out for me more than they do, you know? Part of me thinks that maybe it's because she wishes she had an actual sister, but she knows that I'm the closest thing she's ever gonna get, so she makes do with what's available, which happens to be me. Or at least, that's my theory. Who knows whether it's actually true or not?"

"And Rotti, he...he at least treats you well?"

"Yeah, he...he treats me great. Amber's actually a little jealous of me because Rotti makes absolutely no attempt at all to hide the fact that I'm his favorite. So to say that he treats me well would actually probably be a bit of an understatement, now that I really think about it."

"Well...as long as he doesn't mistreat you, then...that's good, I suppose. I...I have to ask...whose last name do you use? His, or mine?"  
"I...I've been Shilo Largo for my entire life, but...now that I'm starting to learn the truth about things, I...I kind of don't know anymore which name I want to use. It's something I'll have to figure out once I learn more about the whole situation, I guess."

Nathan gave a single nod.

"I suppose I can understand that," he said, "but I just want you to know that whatever ends up happening, you'll always be a Wallace in my mind."

Shilo smiled faintly. "I would expect nothing less," she replied.

For another fifteen or twenty minutes or so, the two of them just sat there talking and getting to know each other. Shilo told Nathan some stories about things that had happened during her childhood, and they brought smiles to his face, some of them even prompting him to laugh for the first time in years. And in return, he told her stories about Marni and about what things had been like during his marriage to her and about the first time they'd met, saying that when he'd looked back on it later, he'd realized it had been love at first sight, at least for him. Shilo even pulled out the bug encyclopedia that she carried in her bag everywhere she went and showed Nathan pictures of some of the specimens she had in her collection, sharing interesting facts and trivia about them, including the crescent comb-footed spider that she'd mentioned before.

They got so caught up in each other that Shilo lost track of the time somewhat.

Finally, she noticed the clock hanging on the wall and did a double-take.

"Oh, holy shit," she said, "is it that late already? I've gotta get home before someone realizes I'm gone. I had to lie about what I was doing so I could come here. I told Amber to tell Rotti that I was going to bed early and then turned off my lights and climbed out the window. I promise I'll come back and visit again as much as I can, though, honest. I'll just have to do it in secret."

"Of course," Nathan replied with a nod. "Thank you so much for coming tonight, Shilo, you truly have no idea what it means to me that I've finally gotten to meet you. And listen to me, no matter what, I want you to always remember that I love you more than anything in the world. If I could, I would go back and fix things so that we were together as a family from the very beginning, you and me and Mag, just like we should have been after your mother's death. And...if you think it's safe for her to know that you were here, then do me a favor and pass a message along to Mag for me, would you?"

"Absolutely. What's the message?"

"Tell her...Tell her I said thank you. For being there for you all these years when I couldn't be. And for everything else, too. She'll know what you mean by that last part, trust me."

Shilo nodded.

"I'll tell her," she said. "I trust her not to tell anyone that I was here, so I promise that I'll let her know what you said."

"Thank you. I...I would give you a hug, but..."

He trailed off, holding up his cuffed hands helplessly. In response, Shilo got up from her seat and went around to Nathan's side of the table. When he stood up, she wrapped her arms around him, and for a moment or so, they just stood there like that until finally, she reluctantly pulled back.

"Okay," she said, "I have to go now before it's too late. Like I said, though, I promise I'll be back."

Nathan nodded, a bittersweet expression on his face. He cupped her face between his hands and kissed the top of her head before releasing her. She went back around to her side of the table and picked up her bag, putting it on her shoulder before raising her hood. Nathan sat back down in his chair and watched as his daughter went to the visitor door and pressed the button to let the GeneCops know that she was ready to be let out.

A minute or two later, the door opened, and the officer on the other side of it nodded to Shilo. She threw once last glance over her shoulder at Nathan before leaving the room. The officer closed the door, and that was that, at least for the moment.

* * *

As she was mounting the trellis to climb up to her bedroom balcony, Shilo heard a chuckle and froze. She turned in the direction she thought the sound had come from, but there was nobody there. Frowning, she turned back to the trellis and grabbed onto it, planting one foot on one of the wooden beams and making sure her grip was secure, preparing to climb.

"Have fun at the prison tonight, kid?" a familiar voice asked.

She let go of the trellis and turned around again. This time, she saw Graverobber emerging from the shadows with a smirk on his face. She crossed her arms and frowned at him.

"Have you been spying on me?" she demanded indignantly.

"Pfft," he said, rolling his eyes, "please. Don't flatter yourself, sweetheart. I was passing by the place and saw you coming out and I thought to myself, 'Now what in the world could Rotti Largo's precious, perfect little angel possibly want that'd be in the island's penitentiary?' Got curious, so I decided to follow you and find out what other mischief you get up to when nobody's watching. I must say, though, this is a bit disappointing. I was expecting your next move to be a bit more...shall we say...scandalous than just climbing into a window on your own house. So tell me. What _were_ you doing at the penitentiary, my dear? No, wait, don't tell me, let me guess! Secret boyfriend, right?"

"Wrong."

"Well, I've only barely gotten warmed up, so let's see what else I can think of."  
"It's none of your damn business what I was doing there, you grungy motherfucker."

"Oh, wow, _that's_ a new one I haven't heard before," he remarked sarcastically.  
"I don't have to stand here and listen to your bullshit," Shilo said somewhat defensively.

She turned around and grabbed the trellis again. She had already started climbing when he spoke up again.

"Hey," he said, "Shilo."

Something in his voice made her halt where she was. She was barely two feet off the ground, so it was all too easy for her her to descend back to the sidewalk, where she turned to face him with her arms crossed, waiting in expectant silence for him to say whatever he was going to say.

"You want the truth, right?" he asked. "About Mag? I can help you get it."

She hesitated momentarily.

"Alright," she said finally, "I'm listening."

"There's this alley that I hang around in a lot because it's a good place to sell. I'll be there tomorrow night. When Amber leaves to come to me for a hit, follow her. Stay out of sight while I'm selling, and after Amber and the other junkies are gone, come and talk to me. I'll get you the information you want."

"Why should I trust you? I barely know you."  
"True, but following that same logic, what reason do I have to lie to you?"

She stood there looking him up and down uncertainly.

"Look," he said, "I might be your only chance to learn what you want, and you know that just as well as I do, so why pass up the oppurtunity? No matter if you show up tomorrow or not, well...I'll have my answer either way, won't I? Think about it, that's all I'm saying. Later, kid."

And with that, he turned and vanished back into the shadows.


End file.
